We%26#39;ve had a Capital One card for 12 years - rarely used it. We had a medium balance on it, so on the advice of forum members (and other cites) on credit cards to use in France. I called them, made sure they knew we were travelling and then asked what would happen if I paid the card off, so we could use it for train tickets hotels in France. Fine, they said. They asked if we wanted a credit increase, I said no (didn%26#39;t need it) but asked them to run our numbers to see what credit would be available in case of emergency.
They said that if we wanted, we could have an extra $2000. I then paid off the balance of the card and went off to France - where the card did not work.
That%26#39;s because the instant they got our payment (our money, that we had saved for this trip to France) they reduced our credit limit to virtually zero.
I knew that this was happening to other people, nation-wide, but I did not think it would happen to us - that%26#39;s why I called them three times and spent hours on the phone and went up their hierarchy to get a manager, all before we left.
They took our money and have basically made the card useless. They did this without notifying us. They asked us for a travel number in case of any problems with the card - they did not call us.
They say they sent a letter explaining why, on the 21st of June, but we have not received it. We had all our mail in one place upon our return - and the only thing from Capital One was a request asking us to add some sort of travel insurance to their card.
Needless to say, I%26#39;m upset. I%26#39;m glad the card is paid off of course (although it was our lowest interest card - and we planned to use it for a short term purchase this summer, since we had put our savings for the trip onto that card).
So - to the people who advised us to make sure we had our debit/ATM card with us - thank you, because only one other card (a Unionplus Mastercard). I sure do wish I%26#39;d put the money on the Mastercard and not that Capital One, though.
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We had the same issue with Capitol One (never a problem with our payments, but they started reducing the limit every time we made a payment and since we were trying to pay it down that made it useless). I concur with your sentiments. They may not want to change their terms openly, but they can get out of them, as a practical matter, by making sure you can%26#39;t charge anything more.
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Since we had talked to them three times about this before deciding to make the payment (and they assured us there would be no problem - and yet, they now say they have *no notes* of the conversation - and I called to ask them specifically if the conversation was noted before we went), our attorney says we have a legitimate complaint against them.
First step is reporting them to the consumer credit commissioner:
…state.tx.us/pages/…cmlt.pdf
I spoke with two other people who had the same thing happen and they have filed their forms. In the meantime, I%26#39;m sending Capital One a letter explaining that I believe they acted in bad faith.
Fortunately, the credit card I have through the union never pulls shenanigans like this - although the interest rate is higher.
We%26#39;re cancelling all our Capital One accounts, needless to say - the only reason we have these cards is for travel.
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And we did the same - I think that type of behavior should not be rewarded with more of my $$.
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I can understand why Capital One would want to eliminate accounts that are not profitable to them.
It%26#39;s just good business sense not to extend no annual fee and no currency conversion fees to customers who in no way contribute any profit.
At least if you use the card regularly, the merchants are paying discounts on your purchases.
But, if you%26#39;re not making any purchases and have no balance - what%26#39;s in it for them?
If you have the card only for the occasional overseas trip (which many do), why should they keep you.
They have, no doubt, a sophisticated software program, that analyzes accounts.
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PS Before you pay an attorney by the hour...read your cardholders agreement. There are surely clauses that allow them to do whatever they please with your account.
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I am fortunately in a situation where I can get some legal advice without paying.
They have recordings of our phone conversations, in which they assured me (on three different occasions) that what happened couldn%26#39;t possibly happen.
And, they agreed today that they should have sent a notice (I believe the written agreement says 28 days notice of changes to interest rates or credit limits; it not it%26#39;s 21 days).
There as no notice - and it took place within 3 days.
It turns out, with a little digging, that this is not so uncommon right now.
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I do understand their stance about our not using the card - (although we had been paying some interest throughout the past year - it%26#39;s not like there was a completely zero balance - it averaged about $1000-2000 a month last year.
That%26#39;s why I called them and spoke to several people about their policy and was assured that there was a process they had to go through before making certain changes to the card - and that policy took time (since we were leaving soon, I was told there was *no way* anything could happen to that credit line while were gone - indeed, they gave me a number to call to increase the line should I need it).
When I called, I found out the opposite.
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You still need to review your cardholder agreement.
Regardless of what you were told on the phone, or whether there are recordings, there is surely a clause in that agreement which states that anything not in writing does not matter.
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I had a balance with Capital One. They sent me a letter telling me that they were raising our rate from 5.5% to 27%. I immediately transferred my balance to my school credit union account. We have never missed a payment or been late. So much for loyalty. I certainly don%26#39;t need them since my credit rating is over 800. I would not recommend them to anyone.
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I%26#39;ve written my two cents about this for a while, usually on Italy forums. Use the debit/credit card as much as possible- I pay with cash. I had a Capital One card and after years of paying on time, etc. my rates went up from 7.5 to 11 to 14 to 23%. The same with Bank of America which swallowed Fleet Bank (Boston). I only use a credit union now- I talk to people who make these decisions in person, they know me by name. I use an account with them when I bring students to Italy and am able to easily keep track of everything online for free. I have found that my card will get me money from ATMs in Italy through BNL (owned by BNP Paribas) with no fee whatsoever. Sorry, I can go on and on. Businesses that only make decisions to do whatever they want strictly for the sake of profits with no consideration to their customers (and I used to work for a really big one) should be hit back by those customers by going to truly better alternatives, not just another company doing the same thing with a fluffier ad campaign.
OK, stepping off my soapbox...
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